National Award winning art director P Krishnamoorthy passes away

National award winning art director P Krishnamoorthy, passed away in Chennai on December 13, due to age related ailments. He is known for his work in Tamil films like ‘Bharathi’ and ‘Imsai Arasan 23am Pulikesi’. He was 77 years old

A resident of Madipakkam in Chennai, Krishnamoorthy’s last rites will be held at his house on Monday afternoon.

This ace art director is behind the aesthetically beautiful set design of ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha(1989) and Perumthatchan(1991).

Krishnamoorthy had also worked with directors like M Night Shyamalan( Praying with Anger) and Jag Mundra (Perfumed Garden).

Born in the coastal town of Poompuhar, Krishnamoorthy entered the film industry with GV Iyer’s Hamsa Geethe in 1975, a Kannada film. This film, based on the life of 18th century Carnatic musician Bhairavi Venkatasubbaiah, received two National Awards post its release. Krishnamoorthy’s first National Award was, however, for Madhvacharya, directed by GV Iyer. The two have worked in films such as Adi Shankaracharya (1983), Madvacharya (1986) and Ramanujacharya (1989).

Krishnamoorthy was a passionate artist even as a child. He received his formal training from the School of Arts, Madras, and then dabbled in designing sets for theatre plays and dance performances before entering cinema.

Over the span of 40 years, Krishnamoorthy has worked in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, French and English films. Some of his popular Tamil films include Indira, Sangamam, Thenali, Kutty, Pandavar Bhoomi, Azhagi, Bharathi, Julie Ganapathi, Imsai Arasan 23aam Pulikesi, and Naan Kadavul. In Malayalam he has worked in acclaimed films like Swathi Thirunal (1987), Vaisali (1988), Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha (1989), Perumthatchan (1991) and more.

He won two National Awards for his work in Bharathi. Ramanujan was his last Tamil film which was released in 2014.